title: Teleconsultations in public primary care units of the city of belo horizonte, Brazil: profile of patients and physicians.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to report patient and physician profiles of those who used the teleconsultation system in the primary care health units of a health district in the city of Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected from the telehealth attendance records of nine Primary Health Units (Unidade Básica de Saúde [UBS] in Portuguese) and from interviews carried out with the referring physicians. The criteria for inclusion required that data come from users seen by means of telehealth in the period between December 2004 and August 2010 and from the practitioners who saw them. The following were excluded: physicians who were not working in the UBS when the data were collected and a physician who did not agree to take part in the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred sixty-three teleconsultations were analyzed, and 20 referring physicians were interviewed. The offline method was the most common. The physicians were predominantly female and had graduated over 11 years ago. The patients were predominantly adult women. After teleconsultation, a prescription was not necessary for 9.8% of patients. When required, 83.2% of the medication was available in the UBS. In 68.3% of cases, additional tests were required. The incorporation of these technologies prevented the physical referral of patients in 64.2% of cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Telehealth resources can help to improve the provision of primary healthcare, reducing the number of physically referred patients. The number of teleconsultations is still small, and there is a need to encourage physicians to use the system.
authors.affiliation: State University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Edson José Carpintero
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Rezende
authors.forename: Eduardo Carlos
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Tavares
authors.forename: Humberto José
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: Alaneir de Fátima
authors.initials: Ade F
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.forename: Maria do Carmo Barros
authors.initials: Mdo C
authors.lastname: de Melo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011634:Public Health; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult